Perfect gift
by Tuliharja
Summary: Shisui wouldn't have ever believed such day would come— a day when Itachi would ask his help to get a gift for his girlfriend. What a mess Shisui gets himself into as he volunteers to help Itachi, just to pry from Itachi who exactly this mysterious girl is. One-shot. R&R!


Title: _Perfect Gift_

Author: _Tuliharja_

Summary: _Shisui wouldn't have ever believed such day would come—a day when Itachi would ask his help to get a gift for his girlfriend. What a mess Shisui gets himself into as he volunteers to help Itachi, just to pry from Itachi who exactly this mysterious girl is. One-shot._

Disclaimer: _NARUTO belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I'm merely writing fan fiction about it._

Dedicated to: _My dear friend Ice Prince Hitsugaya alias Lil'Prince! Happy Birthday dear! I hope you'll like this fic as much as I liked writing this to you._

Author's note: _Thank you mitsukai for betaing this._

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**..:Perfect gift:..**

Shisui could only stare his best friend in bafflement. He even nearly dropped his precious dango when Itachi had casually said those words.

_"I have a girlfriend."_

Never in his life would Shisui assume such words could ever leave from Itachi's lips –well, not really, but not so soon. Itachi was still so young and innocent and-…

"Don't tell me you two did it?!" Shisui suddenly yelled, giving weight to his words as he threw his hands to his sides, one of the dangos flying away from the stick it was on. This made the older Uchiha pout briefly, before turning to the younger one, who maintained his usual poker face. How often Shisui wished he could have such a poker face, too. It would have made his life easier –not to mention girls tended to like boys who gave the unattainable feeling, for some reason.

"No," was the simple, yet rather blunt answer as Shisui sighed in a relieved manner. "We're still minors, after all."

This made Shisui nearly choke on his dango that he had swallowed after Itachi's first word. Quickly, Itachi walked behind Shisui, hitting his back repeatedly until Shisui managed to cough the dango away. Small tears in his eyes, he said a bit breathlessly, "One of these days, you'll end up killing me, you know?"

To his great amusement, Shisui could finally see a small crack in Itachi's usual emotionless mask as his eyebrow twitched to his best friend's ridiculousness. It was always amusing from Shisui's perspective how there would be small cracks that would make him look so young, so innocent. Although, despite his years, Itachi was far from an innocent and little boy. Shaking his head a bit at this, Shisui tilted his head to Itachi.

"So what do you want to know?" he asked, knowing fully well Itachi wasn't there just to drop the bomb that he had a girlfriend. After all, they both were extremely busy with their jobs and duties, making Shisui muse when and where Itachi could have found this girl. He decided to snoop around later because, knowing Itachi, he most likely wouldn't answer if asked.

The older Uchiha now took a careful bite from his dango as he watched how Itachi looked down, shifting his weight from one foot to other. It was kind of obvious that whatever Itachi would ask from him, it most likely sounded stupid in Itachi's mind. Not that Shisui minded. In fact, he enjoyed those rare moments when he could tell or show pieces of wisdom to Itachi about things he couldn't learn from books or figure out by himself. It was at times frustrating that his best friend was a genius, yet Shisui still wouldn't ever hate Itachi. No matter how frustrating it would be when Itachi would calmly point out Shisui's mistakes or the way his logical train of thought would be fully on side-tracks, Shisui still loved the younger Uchiha to pieces, like a true older brother would.

"A gift," came the answer finally from the prodigy as Shisui kept eating his dango, waiting for Itachi to specify little bit further what he meant. Yet as it never came, Shisui gazed up to the cloudless sky as warm wind ruffled his short and curly hair. The weather was still rather nice and warm, despite the fact that fall was making its way to Konoha.

"Well, a necklace would be nice gift," Shisui finally answered, glancing at Itachi, who was staring at him silently in return. "Or maybe chocolate and flowers? I have heard girls like chocolate and flowers most; besides, if you don't know her so well, buying her necklace could majorly backfire."

This caused the younger one frown slightly, which made Shisui push Itachi's forehead gently with two of his fingers.

"You'll get all wrinkly if you keep doing that. You already have lines in your face, and I'm sure your girlfriend doesn't want you to look even older than you are!" he pointed out, before his eyes narrowed a bit suspicious manner. "You haven't lied your age to her, have you? I know you look older than normal kids in your age, but–…"

"Shisui," Itachi's smooth tone cut in as his eyes bored into Shisui. "You're rambling."

"Oh, sorry," Shisui apologized a bit sheepish manner as he rubbed the behind of his neck. "So, what's the purpose of this gift to her, anyway?"

The older Uchiha hoped at least now Itachi would tell him why he wanted to buy a gift to his girlfriend, yet he could see from Itachi's face he wouldn't give him any answers. Sighing a bit, Shisui twisted his short hair around his finger, wondering what to buy a girl who was most likely same age as Itachi.

"At least tell me what she looks like!" Shisui eventually snapped as he couldn't come up anything. He needed some hints about this mysterious girl, so he could help Itachi. "Is she an Uchiha?"

To his small surprise, Shisui could see how Itachi's corner of mouth lifted slightly, almost looking like a smile.

"No," was the reply as Itachi replied, making Shisui now even more curious. Being the clan head's first son, Itachi had many expectations to fill, one of those being not to mix his blood with anyone else than other Uchiha. What a ridiculous rule from old ages –Shisui couldn't have thought when he at first heard that. But then again, Itachi had always been more special than anyone else, so it shouldn't have been that big surprise to him when Itachi gave him that simple answer.

"She has pale eyes, like Hyuugas, but she isn't one. Her hair is too pale, but not so much. She is quiet, but can be louder than even most men. She handles her job carefully and has shared few secrets of hers with me," Itachi suddenly told Shisui, who felt himself growing wordless. If he hadn't previously been curious about this mysterious girl, now he definitely was.

The way Itachi had just described her seemed somewhat simple, distant or even cold, but Shisui wasn't Itachi's best friend for nothing. He could have seen and heard obvious affection in the younger Uchiha's tone and eyes when he talked about this girl, making him unconsciously smile. And because of that, he knew it had to be something personal, something precious Itachi should give to this girl, since nothing else would be good enough.

"I've perfect gift in my mind! Let's go!" Shisui said, getting up from the trunk of tree, taking the last bite of the dango before starting to go. Trusting to his friend following him, Shisui allowed himself to walk through the Uchiha compound; throwing the dango stick into nearest trash can he saw as they continued walking in silence.

Shisui's steps had a light bounce, while Itachi tailed behind him like a silent shadow. In a way, the duo looked extremely adorable yet awkward. Most of the Uchihas didn't know what to make of the duo's friendship as Shisui wasn't the typical Uchiha, being loud and holding his heart on his sleeve, while Itachi embodied the stereotype of the Uchiha clan. Yet both were still well-respected, and even at some level feared, because their talents. While Itachi was a genius, Shisui had success with his skills and Sharingan. The duo was indeed a weird combination as they left the compound and eventually the village behind them, this seemingly not bothering Shisui as he kept going. Their destination was crystal clear in his mind and quite obvious as Itachi quickly realized where they were going; the younger Uchiha had many times taken his little brother there. But Shisui had never taken Itachi there, which made the occasion even more personal and special as they eventually reached to the seemingly old and abandoned city, Sora-ku which meant literally "Sky Ward".

The city had many buildings that seemed ready to collapse as time ate at their structures, but both Uchihas knew it wasn't important what was top of the ground, but rather underneath it, as Shisui led them near of one of the abandoned buildings and proceeded underground. It was a place where many Uchihas had stored their munitions for the next possible war or rather, as Shisui's thoughts took a darker direction inside of his mind, the rebellion. There had already been signs of the upcoming rebellion against Konoha's other civilians as Uchihas still held a grudge against Konoha and the way how they had been shunned in their "own" village. Yet despite this, both Shisui and Itachi couldn't help but hope the rebellion would only stay in the state of talking. Neither of them wished to see more unnecessary blood shedding than was needed. And unfortunately both of them had already seen it. The world had shown its ugly side to them both too early and even earlier to Itachi, yet Shisui quickly shook his head. Now wasn't the time to mull over clan politics –or any politics for that matter– but the mission at hand: to introduce Itachi to the best gift he possible could get for his girlfriend.

The duo eventually came front of pair rusty doors that Shisui opened. The double doors led into a large room that was filled with smoke and cats. But what instantly caught the duo's attention was near of the opposite wall of them, where sat an old lady holding a pipe in her hand and a cat in her lap. Shisui walked towards the old and wrinkly lady, who wore a pair of dark cat ears top of her head, before he bowed to her, Itachi mimicking him.

"Hello Nekobaa," Shisui greeted the old lady who nodded her head to the duo as for greeting. The woman was extremely old, yet Shisui still wasn't sure quite old, as the lady had been old even when Shisui had been a child and that was some time ago. But even the lady was old and seemed like some crazy cat-lady, every Uchiha knew her. She was the lady who held secrets of this abandoned city and was in charge of every single munitions.

"Hello Uchiha Shisui, Itachi…what brings you two here?" the old woman asked, while smoking her pipe as she watched the two Uchihas. Smirking now, Shisui straightened up as he briefly glanced Itachi, before Nekobaa front of himself.

"For a really important business…You see, Itachi here–" Shisui's words suddenly turning into a sharp yell and after that into a hiss as he glared Itachi, who had actually stepped on his foot. The older Uchiha gave Itachi a look that hold both irritation and confusion in it. He couldn't just fathom why Itachi had done such an action as it wasn't one that he normally would do. Yet as Itachi started speak, he quickly understood why.

"I'm looking for a cat. A ninneko, to be exact," Itachi told now to Nekobaa who puffed a smoke from her pipe.

Shisui couldn't help but grin as Itachi had quickly realized Shisui's intentions regarding what to get to his girlfriend. A ninneko, a cat that was extremely special and only few people owned those, as even Uchihas that were known for the fact they were such cat-lovers didn't actually own those. Yes, Inuzuka Clan had their special dogs and even the copy ninja Hatake Kakashi had his mutts, but those wouldn't ever be compared to ninnekos. Those fine felines that could talk, had high intelligence, which made performing different techniques possible, and could also use chakra, were the best gift to give anyone. And since Itachi had discerned almost right away what Shisui's intentions were, he was almost sure his girlfriend was animal lover, or at least a cat lover.

Grinning madly, Shisui promised to himself he would later on make Itachi thank him for his brilliant idea and maybe get the younger one for a drink or two which would be purely non-alcoholic, because Itachi was still sadly minor. But once Itachi would hit into the magical number of not being minor anymore, Shisui would teach his best friend the art of drinking. While Shisui got lost in his little fantasies, Itachi kept talking to Nekobaa who eventually told him she couldn't fulfill his request. This made both Uchihas halt and look in shock at Nekobaa, who was smirking an impish manner to the duo.

"Those are extremely rare cat breeds and they're quite expensive ones. You aren't first one to ask this of me Uchiha Itachi and most likely not last one…" Nekobaa explained in her gruff voice as Itachi's eyes narrowed a bit. Worriedly, Shisui glanced his best friend before Nekobaa.

"We-well, if it's about money–" Shisui started as the old lady put her pipe down, shaking her head.

"Not everything can be counted by money," she stated as Shisui pouted yet eventually nodded from the wisdom of the old woman. "It's obvious this is for a very special occasion…wouldn't I even dare to suggest for a very special person?"

Shifting his eyes now to Itachi, who was once again holding that mask of indifference upon his features, he merely nodded.

"Well, if that's the case, there must be an equal amount of sweat, blood and work behind to get that gift to that person, don't you agree?" The lady carried on, making Shisui almost groan as he could see where the conversation was going.

Yet he wasn't foolish enough to think Itachi wouldn't go through this if he already decided to get such a gift to his girlfriend, which Shisui was sure he had. Somewhere back of his mind Shisui vowed to himself he would make Itachi spill him later on just who exactly this girl was and why she was so important, as Itachi nodded his head to Nekobaa. Even if Itachi was willing to risk his sorry-butt it didn't mean he had to drag Shisui into something either stupid or dangerous or both. Which soon proved to be both as Nekobaa told the duo if they wanted ninneko they should catch the Matatabi's paw print for her. At first Shisui laughed, yet as neither Nekobaa nor Itachi laughed, his laughter died down into utter shock and denial.

"Are you serious? How we'll get Matatabi's paw print?! Its host lives all the way in Kumogakure! It's not like it is only a day's trip from here! Besides, we can't just waltz in there and ask it!" Shisui practically shouted now from disbelief, making most of the cats in the room hiss at him or run away. Yet he didn't care –no way would he risk his and his best friend's lives just because some gift to random girl.

"I'll do it," Itachi stated as Shisui spun to him, ready to argue, but the look in Itachi's eyes stopped him. The look in his eyes dared Shisui to speak any further or 'nonsense' like that, making Shisui gulp a bit. Itachi wasn't feared among other people just because his status or his intelligence, but his skills and the fact he knew how to use the knowledge he had gained over the years and skill to his advantage. Times like this, Shisui was more than glad they were friends. Even now he felt like showing his bare stomach to Itachi for the sign of giving up, even though he wasn't himself an animal. The look in Itachi's eyes was just so powerful and he wasn't even using his Sharingan. The kid really had some skills.

"Yare, yare…I can't let you go alone now, can I?" Shisui eventually asked, smirking a bit as he turned to Nekobaa as he decided he would tag along with Itachi, because above anything else, Shisui wasn't a bad friend. The older Uchiha missed the brief soft look in Itachi's eyes toward him as Nekobaa merely nodded her head to the duo.

"I'll prepare the weapons you'll need–" Nekobaa started as Shisui waved his hand to her.

"Charging already extra? Maa, Nekobaa, you surely know how to handle things, don't you?" Shisui asked now with an amused look upon his features. "Just prepare the summoning scroll for the ninneko, so when we'll come you'll have it for us."

Giving one of his charming smiles, Shisui winked his eye to the old lady before motioning Itachi to follow him as the old lady merely nodded her head to them.

"Good luck," were the last words the duo heard as they then made their way outside and to the ground from the underground. Yet as soon as they met the open area, Shisui spun toward Itachi, his look serious.

"How will you explain your absence to your father? You realize the trip will take about a month if we're lucky!" Shisui asked now as the younger Uchiha let out a low chuckle, making Shisui want to strangle Itachi. Yet before he could proceed with his murder-attempt the younger Uchiha lifted his hand to silence Shisui.

"Shisui…what would you say if I would tell you, I'm quite sure we don't have to go anywhere than just wait few days in here?" Itachi asked, which made Shisui lift his brow questioning manner to him. "You know how I work at ANBU and there why I've some inside information about things…well, apparently, the Two-Tails host Nii Yugito at times visits in here for 'cat business'."

"Cat business?" Shisui asked as inside of his mind popped a chibi version of Two-Tails who got from its owner a new bell and soft-toy mouse to play, making Shisui sweat drop. "Never mind, I don't want know. But…if I didn't know you any better, I would say you already knew what to get to your girlfriend before you asked from me…" Shisui mused now aloud before he noticed he had been left all alone as Itachi was already going.

"O-oi! Wait a moment Itachi! You wouldn't be so cruel to your best friend, right, right?!" Shisui shouted now after Itachi as he quickly jogged after the younger Uchiha who kept his face nearly emotionless, yet Shisui could see that small glint in his eyes which made his face turn red from slight frustration.

"Maybe I'll just let you handle this by–…" he started as Itachi finally turned to Shisui, stopping as he did so.

"Shisui, thank you," Itachi thanked Shisui, who blinked his eyes several times before sheepishly he scratched the back of his head.

"Ah…no need to thank me. So when will we start our mission then?" Shisui asked back as they started once again head back to the Uchiha compound.

"Today. I'll tell my father I have an ANBU mission while you say that you'll take your vacation now, instead of later on. I should be able to get the documents concerning the Two-Tails host's visits and when she will most likely visit once again," Itachi explained the plan as Shisui nodded his head to this.

"Very well, but what if she doesn't visit in time? I mean, isn't there deadline for you to give that gift to your girlfriend?" Shisui asked now back as Itachi merely gave Shisui look that told him he shouldn't worry about that as the older Uchiha merely sighed to this. He should have figured whatever the occasion was; Itachi had made sure there was plenty of time to get the gift, even if it would consume as much time as this mission would apparently.

It was almost frightening how carefully Itachi then planned their mission, as next several hours Shisui took his vacation that he had saved for later on, yet for Itachi's sake and for the mission he took it now. Not that he minded really; it wasn't like Shisui had made any plans to visit somewhere far off; beside, it had been such a long time when the two of them had done something like this. Yet, later on, during the silent hours of mostly sleepless nights, Shisui was starting to regret ever agreeing to Itachi's silent question to join him.

As the days passed, so did Shisui's humour against their situation. Their stay at abandoned Sky Ward wasn't at all ideal, even though there were empty buildings to occupy, so they would stay at least dry when occasional rainstorms would come. But otherwise, his patience was wearing thin as days passed, yet finally their patience and waiting was paid back as the host of the Two-Tails appeared.

It was actually extremely simple to ambush the woman as the duo had done more than just sit around, doing nothing; in fact, they had learned the abandoned town like a palm of their hand and set several traps. They had to cast a genjutsu on her, as neither Shisui nor Itachi wanted to give her any possible reason to exact revenge afterwards or to possible destroy Konoha, once they would head back home.

That was why Itachi needed Shisui, because of his special genjutsu called kotoamatsukami which he used to make Nii Yugito to give Two-Tail's paw print to Nekobaa without her ever thinking it was odd her to do such action. The genjutsu was something that Shisui felt both proud and scared, because such power could easily make its user drunk from the power it holds. So far, Shisui had managed to hold at bay any greedy feelings which he might have, yet he had given Itachi a good lecture about using kotoamatsukami like this, because with it he could make anyone believe anything and the person believed they had come up with it. The younger Uchiha had listened the older one and promised there wouldn't ever again come such time he would ask Shisui pull such a stunt, making Shisui wonder if Itachi was secretly meeting some royalty's daughter.

_'The girl must be more than 'special'…after all this trouble!'_ Shisui thought as Nekobaa presented Itachi the summoning scroll for the ninneko, complimenting the duo about their cleverness toward Nii Yugito to trick her into directly giving the paw print to Nekobaa. At first it had apparently surprised the Grandma Cat, yet in the end she had accepted it and even agreed to give the summoning scroll for the ninneko even though technically they hadn't literally given the paw print to Nekobaa. Shisui was still happy with the result as he could see Itachi's eyes light up with pleasure as he received the scroll and then presented it to him.

"Thank you, Shisui," came Itachi's thank you, after the duo excited the abandoned city, Shisui merely waving his hand to him.

"No need to thank me…though I WOULD like to meet this girl of yours. Heck, who is she? We went sooo much trouble for her, after all!" Shisui whined now as Itachi merely smirked, before disappearing from Shisui's view, making him blink his eyes before rage filled him. Huffing, Shisui merely used the Body Flicker Technique that he had mastered, earning him the nickname "Shisui of the Body Flicker".

Soon, Shisui appeared near of Itachi's location as he used all his remaining energy and chakra to track down his best friend who soon would learn not to mess with him as Shisui seriously thought about the possibility of murdering him. His patience had already long time ago run out with Itachi, yet the sight that he saw made him make full double take of his plans 'how to murder Uchiha Itachi and not get caught by it'.

What he saw was a young girl that appeared to be same age as Itachi himself, wearing typical ANBU outfit, but what really caught Shisui's attention was the girl's long, pale blue hair and eyes that were even paler blue, her looking like a Hyuuga yet the chakra signature told him clearly the girl wasn't. As he studied the girl, he could see her somewhat stiff and cold behaviour, but once her eyes landed to Itachi's, her look in her eyes softened, before it turned surprised one. Handing toward the summoning scroll, Itachi spoke in his smooth baritone tone that this time vibrated from emotions that Shisui never had heard so clearly in Itachi's voice; shyness and affection.

"Happy birthday Sora," Itachi said as he gave the girl, whose name was Sora, the summoning scroll. Silently, the girl opened it before her eyes widened and to both Uchihas surprise the girl hugged Itachi, thanking him abundantly.

The sight made Shisui's lips curl upwards into a warm smile as he nodded to himself. Satisfied, he quickly used once again the Body Flicker Technique just to appear little bit farther away from the happy couple. Stretching, Shisui yawned slightly as he promised himself he would make later Itachi introduce him properly to Sora as he said aloud to himself: "I think–…I no deserve dango. Hmm, I wonder if they can open tabs in that dango shop, because if anything, Itachi owes me the next two years' worth of dangos for all the helping!" He claimed before looking behind himself with a wide grin, knowing Itachi would later curse his best friend for practically bringing him to bankruptcy from his dango obsession and the fact he could now tease Itachi about his girlfriend. All in all, the crazy gift-hunting had been a more than successful mission for both Shisui and Itachi.


End file.
